Rita thought for a minute or two, her lips rippling with merriment, her young eyes shining.
A little chuckle escaped her, her shoulders began to shake and then she shrieked with joy.
"I've got it, splendid! Listen! It's to inculcate kindness to animals.
"I am only a whelk, Sir,
Though if you but knew,
Although I'm a whelk, Sir,
The Lord made me too!"
"Magnificent!—your turn."
"Well, what will the title of the Toftrees' next novel be?"
"'Cats' meat!'—I say, do you know that I have invented the one quite perfect opening for a short story. You'll realise when you hear it that it stands alone. It's perfect, like Giotto's Campanile or 'The Hound of Heaven.'"